Recommend a good Apt. management company (Manitou Springs: real estate, apartment complexes, renter) - Colorado Springs - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

donnab300 · 02-13-2018, 05:51 AM

I loved my place when I moved in 3 years ago now it completely looks like crap, The Grove on E Bijou They have raised the rent added CAM fees $25.00> been through 4 new managers I don't know how many maintaince men, the disrespect that is giving to all the residents is horrible and there pay comes out of the CAM fees $3,625.00 a month=$43,500.00 a year for no landscaping, no sprinkler system, no pest control, no snow removal, not replacing light bulbs....ect this is all in my lease as a addenda I have 16 addenda I had to sign! So my lease is up at the end of March but they told me it doesn't end until end of April (tells me I'm out). Please someone tell me who rents and takes care of their property please. This is my second apt I've ever rented I owned a house 20 years and my credit sucks, got sick and lost my house! My job. My credit! Thank you!!! Any recommendation would be Awesome! DiR

BioBuild · 02-15-2018, 05:15 PM

In my years of renting, I've always had better experiences with "freelance" landlords/property owners that aren't associated with any management companies (especially in the Springs).

mtngigi · 02-16-2018, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BioBuild

In my years of renting, I've always had better experiences with "freelance" landlords/property owners that aren't associated with any management companies (especially in the Springs).

Until I bought my home, I always rented from individuals. However, depending on what part of the city you choose to live in, it can be very difficult to find those kinds of landlords.

I find this can be easier to do on the west side and/or in older neighborhoods and in Manitou Springs, where you can drive around and spot "for rent" signs here and there. That may not be an option for the OP depending on preferences of where to live.

Sonic_Spork · 02-22-2018, 11:12 AM

I would recommend my former complex, Highland Park apartments, but probably not to OP unfortunately as I've got a feeling that credit issues and no job would be a problem to qualify.

I don't know if there is a perfect apt complex or management company. I've had ups and downs to all. But the apartments I was in for a while... Pros: Lovely landscaping, sprinklers, they did ok with snow removal, pest control, pretty quiet neighbors for the most part, very nice amenities and very nice staff. Nice proximity to a grocery store. Cons: I swear every time I got maintenance out, they fiddled with things but didn't really fix the problem. Fortunately I had no major maintenance crises. Like most property management, they did raise rent, though if you renewed early and/or for longer lease periods, you got discounts for that. Pro?/Con?: Dog friendly more than kid friendly. No playground, but there is a dog park. Whether you like this feature depends on if you're into dogs. I'm not...but I don't hate them, and it wasn't a huge downside for me, I just didn't care.

Those apartments are Highland Park apartments, directly behind Safeway at Academy & Union up north. I liked living there. Only moved because I needed a bigger place.

One property management I had negative experiences with and would not recommend to anyone, either renters or owners, is Colorado Casa Real Estate & Property Management. They suck. I would never do business with them again. Mostly deals in realty and managing people's single family home rentals...and um...they have a Spanish name for the business, but it's owned by a couple whose names sound distinctly Russian (first and last names of both people) and they keep dogs in the office, which is a sort of pinkish stucco building. The house I rented from them was actually primed to explode into flames, I discovered, what with the dryer vent redirected into the utility closet and the gas leak in there. We could have died. And the gas leak had been previously found and marked but never fixed. So...yeah. Bad.

mtngigi · 02-22-2018, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sonic_Spork

I would recommend my former complex, ....

The OP hasn't returned since posting 10 days ago. Perhaps a pm will let them know they've had a few responses to their post. If it were me, I'd rather not play a guessing game as to who those landlords mentioned in your last paragraph are.

Mike from back east · 02-22-2018, 05:34 PM

You may name apartment complexes and management companies.

You may name Realtor.com, PPAR.com, REColorado.com, Zillow, etc, i.e., generic MLS sites.

You may not name realtors or websites of specific realtor firms, send those referrals by DM.

TCHP · 02-23-2018, 08:14 AM

The OP had a message the day after this post went up asking for her account to be deactivated.

Could be good info for someone else though.

Sonic_Spork · 02-23-2018, 10:34 AM

Thanks, Mike, for letting me know what names could be named (I wasn't sure about TOS for that) and for updating my post with that info.

I've been a renter for most of my life. I've rented from all sorts. Never saw anything as spectacularly, shockingly bad as what I discovered in that house I rented from Colorado Casa...that was when we moved here, I rented it sight unseen because I just wanted a home to arrive to when we got here after a 5 day drive. I knew that there might be issues, but figured it wouldn't be anything I could not cope with for a year's lease, and then move if needed. But...wow.

I used 8 pages of single spaced printed out description to detail all of the problems. I printed 2 copies and had one of their owners sign both, and I signed both, and I gave them one and kept one. When I moved out, I asked if they had their copy of this on file and they said no. I said, "good thing I kept a copy, signed by <owner> then." I am very sure that they would have tried to keep my security deposit, had I not done that.

Bad as it was, I felt even sorrier for the military guy who owned the house, and was stationed elsewhere and paying and trusting these folks to manage it. I was only affected for a year.

I'd say that my best renting experiences have been with private owners. One big benefit is that if you're a very good tenant, a private owner will often want you to stay, and want to avoid having to replace you, to the point that they won't even raise rent over long time periods. With professional PM's you can pretty much bet that they'll raise the rent every year. It's standard. I have noticed that it's harder here in this area to find private owners renting places, though, sadly. I assume because a large majority of rental homes are owned by military personnel who can't be here to manage them personally? Or maybe because a lot of excess housing has been built at various times, and is owned by pro companies?

Mike from back east · 02-23-2018, 11:50 AM

Yelp has ratings of prop mgmt firms in colo spgs.

I would not bother with BBB ratings, even firms that are terrible on Yelp get "A+" on the BBB site. Useless.

My one experience with Century 21 Professional Team (Mr. Marx) was not good. He has over 400 SFHs to manage and they did a poor job on my neighbor's home when he was overseas. I had to hire and pay for sprinkler work and exterminators to get work done for my friend, who later paid me back.

mtngigi · 02-23-2018, 02:15 PM

I moved out of the apartment I had rented for 6 years into the house I bought, which was right across the street. Comes time to get my security deposit back, and the manager informed me they would be deducting the cost of cleaning the carpet.

Little did they know that because I was right across the street, I knew my apartment had been rented and moved into literally hours after I was out of there. They most certainly did not clean the carpet. I let the manager know in no uncertain terms what a fraudulent liar she was. I got my entire deposit back.

You have to wonder why there are so many smarmy apartment managers.